


Bullet Points

by CrumblingAsh



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Adorable Bruce, Adorable Tony Stark, Alternate Universe - Domestic, Drabble Collection, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Science Boyfriends, Science Bros
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-27
Updated: 2014-10-27
Packaged: 2018-02-22 20:05:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,440
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2520143
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CrumblingAsh/pseuds/CrumblingAsh
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A look into different aspects of the relationship of Bruce Banner and Tony Stark.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bullet Points

**Author's Note:**

> Score for original title. I snatched these questions from a ship thing off of tumblr, and the answers turned into little drabbles/one-line flash fics, so here you are.

* * *

* * *

 

 

  * **Who was the one to propose:**

Tony proposed daily, and the amount of times he proposed in a day varied – the words “fuck, marry me” had become so commonplace that Bruce didn’t really think much about it. He proposed when Bruce kissed him awake, proposed when Bruce brought him coffee, proposed when Bruce would ping him in the forehead with a blueberry, proposed when Bruce went down on him after he finished a project.

(One night, Tony said, “I wish you would marry me” and looked so surprised that the words had actually left his mouth that Bruce laughed over the hysteria bubbling up his throat, brushed his lips along the underside of the older man’s jaw, and teased, “Your wish is my command”).

 

  * **Who stressed more over wedding planning:**

Tony flipped the fuck out once he realized Bruce was serious in accepting the proposal he didn’t meant to give (but didn’t regret, fuck you). Gratuitous “we’re engaged!” sex was one thing; planning to move that engagement forward into a wedding ceremony? He stressed for weeks over how to plan a wedding, how to make it perfect – spent hours poring over websites, dug into celebrity secrets, scoped out locations from secluded beaches to ancient castles (money _so_ not an issue). On the fourth day of his research, Bruce found him passed out in the back seat of the Audi with bags under his eyes, screens of notes floating all around him, his parents’ own wedding ceremony playing on loop on the large screen. With a quiet request to JARVIS, he cancelled all the displays, slipping into the back seat and gently shifting Tony until the other rested against his chest. “It means so much to me that you want to do this,” he whispered against his ear. “But we don’t need it, and I don’t want you to hurt yourself trying to get it for us. We can just be us, Tony. Let’s just do us.” 




         (Steve, ordained for a reason he doesn’t like to talk about, officiates their wedding three weeks later in an incredibly small ceremony in the middle of the penthouse. While Tony jokes that Steve’s smile was the brightest, Bruce knows it was his).

 

  * **Who decorated the house:**

After years of living with nothing he couldn’t carry and nights spent on the floors of generous strangers, Bruce had no real interest in decorating. Tony, normally too caught up in his head (and Bruce), didn’t really care what anything looked like. Pepper, exasperated, hired an interior decorator.

(It takes a month for Tony to notice the lack of Iron Man paintings on the walls and Bruce to realize the carpet in the bedroom is a new soft moss green instead of the plush sand color it had always been. But it’s not overly distracting, so they flow with it).

(Tony hangs up three overly-large paintings of Pepper just because).

(They make her blush).

 

  * **Who does the cooking:**

Tony lacks the patience for cooking, and contrary to popular belief, Bruce doesn’t actually have a knack for cooking. They rely heavily on take-away - Indian food is their absolute favorite, and the couple who owns the restaurant always gives them an extra order of butter chicken.

(Tony tries, sometimes, to make Bruce breakfast – each time, he still smells like smoke when he makes it to the workshop, prompting Dummy to attack him with the fire extinguisher. Every time).

 

  * **Who is more organized:**

Bruce owns no things, and Tony owns many things. Because of this, people expect Bruce to be the more organized of the two.

However, since he _doesn’t_ really own anything, the sight of things beginning to clutter doesn’t really register as a “problem” for Bruce – in fact, the sight of _things_ all around him in overwhelming masses actually settles him. It makes everything seem a little more … permanent.

(Conversely, disorder bothers the fuck out of Tony, but he grits his teeth and leaves it for Bruce, because anything that soothes Bruce is **completely acceptable.** He hasn’t told Bruce that it bothers him; hasn’t even hinted at it. It’s something they still have to work out).

 

  * **Who initiates bedroom fun:**

Since Afghanistan, Tony has never approached anyone about sex. Hasn’t pushed for arousing touches, deepened kisses, anything that could imply that it’s what he wants. But he _does_ want it.

Bruce has learned to read Tony over their time together as a couple; feels when he stops and draws back, the tension in his body as he genuinely strains against his desire. It lights something inside of him, a curious (intimidating) mixture of protective and hungry, and when he knows Tony is hesitating and not actually denying, he’ll bite at the billionaire’s neck, just shy of too hard, and lead the dazed man to bed.

 

  * **Who suggested kids first:**

Tony wants to give Bruce the world – _would_ give him the world, actually, if he asked for it. Anything Bruce Banner wants, Tony wants him to have, even if it’s something Tony himself does not want.

Bruce wants children more than he wants anything else, but the idea of being a parent, of being around someone so fragile when he’s potentially so dangerous, terrifies him. For Bruce, however, Tony can be patient – he’ll wait until the big guy is ready.

 

  * **Who’s more dominant:**

While Bruce is normally “in charge” in bed, the word “dominant” (or any variation, really) makes him uncomfortable – he doesn’t like the idea of having any sort of actual control over Tony.

(Tony, however, has no qualms telling _anyone_ who listen just how “dominant” Bruce can be)

 

  * **Who’s the cuddler:**

A relationship is supposed to be the joining of two opposites – one who likes mornings, one who likes nights; one who likes reading, one who likes movies; one who likes robots, one who likes urine samples – but when they get close together, whether on the couch or quinjet or bed, they burrow together so close it’s hard to tell who is holding who.

 

  * **Who’s the big spoon/little spoon:**

Nightmares are terrifying, but there are those dreams that are not so much nightmares, but nightsorrows – the dreams where you wake up crying and feel empty, like something was ripped out of you and not replaced. Tony has nightmares, but on some nights it’s Bruce who wakes up broken, shuddering so painfully the entire bed shakes. On those nights, Tony rolls over and wraps himself around Bruce’s back, encases him so completely that he feels nothing but Tony.

 

  * **What’s their favorite non-sexual activity:**

The only gaming console Bruce has ever owned is the Super Nintendo, which Tony quickly buys for him when he finds out (along with every Super Nintendo game ever made). When they have downtime between science marathons and bed, they hook up the Nintendo and insert a game – Bruce crushes Tony at every level of _Mario Kart_ (the smug fucker, who doesn’t fall off of Rainbow Road?), and Tony beats him handily at _Rise of the Robots_ (fighting robots, seriously. Who the hell cares if critics hadn’t liked it?!). They both throw continuously chuck their controllers at the screen during _Super Mario Bros_ , and Bruce is banned from playing _Zool_ because it makes him a little green around the collar. Sometimes they enjoy goofing off on some weird little game entitled _Claymates_ (what the actual fuck?) and other times, Tony is content to lounge on the couch, fiddling with his tablet as Bruce leans against his knees and messes around on _Mario Paint._

(When a game doesn’t work, Tony never, _ever_ misses the opportunity to tease Bruce about giving Nintendo more blowjobs than he’s ever given him).

 

  * **Who comes home drunk at 3am:**

Tony did it, one time, at the beginning of their relationship. Bruce had taken one look at him, stood up, and left the Tower. When he sobered up, Tony emptied every bottle of alcohol he owned down the drain and recycled every glass bottle. (Any time he says something about wanting a drink, Bruce tightly grabs his hand, and they sit or stand wherever they are until Tony can handle it again.)

 

  * **Who falls asleep first:**

Bruce has trouble sleeping in the dark, his mind twitching at every little noise, every tiny electrical hum. He hates it, he absolutely **_loathes it_** , but he can’t sleep unless Tony is still awake, still alert enough to watch his back, to let him know if there’s danger, if he’s safe. He wants to be able to do that for Tony, to provide that small amount of comfort, but every time they try, is a night Bruce spends in anxious panic.

(Tony prefers it this way, actually. Prefers knowing that Bruce is asleep soundly in _their_ bed, that he trusts Tony. That it’s _only Tony_ who makes him feel safe.)

 

  * **A head canon:**

Bruce has two phones – his prepaid one, for the team and not-so-dead SHIELD directors to call him on, and the StarkPhone Tony gave to him before he left to return to India. He calls that phone his “Tony-Phone”, as Tony is the only one who has (and calls) the number.

(The only time someone else had called the Tony-Phone had been when AIM had attacked the Malibu Mansion. Bruce’s stomach had turned to rock when Pepper’s voice followed Tony’s name on the screen before she had even explained the situation).

 

  * **Do they have any “rituals”?**

Every night, before they crawl into bed, Bruce tells Tony “I’ll still be here when you wake up”. It had been meant as a joke, a dig at his tendency to run.

(The one time he hadn’t said it, when they were both so exhausted that they just fell into bed and were asleep within seconds, Tony had woken up alone and spent the next eight days fighting and hacking his way through the military to snatch Bruce back from General Ross. It’s now a mandatory ritual).

 

  * **Who is louder?**

In sex, Tony can be theatrical – there have actually been times where he’s had to be, to keep things from getting awkward or dangerous. He’s watched enough porn to know what noises to make and when to make them, what sounds successful and what sounds inviting. Bruce doesn’t make those noises – there are no obnoxious moans or harsh “fuck yeah, fuck yeah”s – he doesn’t scream or shout.

He _keens._ Loud, high-pitched, desperate whines that sound so confused, so needy, that Tony can’t even bring himself to swallow them up. It’s like every sensation is brand-fucking-new to Bruce, every touch a surprise. Tony keeps his own noises soft so he can hear every single one the other man makes.

 

  * **Who is more experimental?**

Tony has always considered himself an experienced playboy.

However, though he never participated himself, Bruce has been all over the world, lived with cultures most of the population doesn’t know exist, witnessed customs and methods even books have never dared to print.

And he’s always more than happy to share those experiences with Tony.

For science.




  * **Do they fuck or make love?**

The first time Bruce calls it “making love” is the night of their wedding, and Tony is so stunned and overwhelmed by the mere idea of it that he cries while it happens. They don’t talk about it, _ever,_ but Bruce makes sure that a handful of times a month he repeats it to the smallest detail.

 

  * **Lights on or off?**

For the first handful of times, the lights are off. The glow of the arc reactor flickers shadows on the walls and ceiling as they move, enough to tease glimpses, but never enough for detail. The first time Tony turns the lights on, it’s after the arc reactor has been removed, and he sits in the middle of the bed with his arms wrapped just around his stomach, the trace scars on full display. Other than a few lingering kisses and a whispered “gorgeous”, Bruce pays them no extra attention, and pulls Tony under instead. The lights always stay on after that.

(His face when he comes is so much more detailed under the light than the reactor).

 

  * **Who is more likely to be caught masturbating?**

Tony purposely lets himself be caught just because he knows what it does to Bruce to see him like that, exposed in a place where he could be so easily seen by others. Those times, it’s definitely “fuck” instead of “make love”.

 

  * **Who is more likely to suggest a threesome?**

In some other universe, maybe – one where they had met earlier, one where they were maybe normal – one of them would have brought up Steve, would have mentioned his constant loneliness and the sorrow in his eyes, the way his shoulders slump at a friendly pat and the way he melts into hugs, the way he very obviously needs someone.

(But they are both too self-hating to suggest it to the other).

 

  * **Who comes first?**

  * Bruce. Unless Bruce does the thing.

  * Tony has no shame in admitting it.
  * Because he is obviously the fucking winner of winners when Bruce does the thing.

  * **Who is better at oral and who prefers it?**

Tony, assuredly, is the best at giving blowjobs, and though Bruce likes to reciprocate, Tony prefers to be the one giving, if only because he loves being able to watch him come apart without worrying about his own needs.

  * **Who is more submissive?**

Bruce takes care of Tony. There is not and will never be any doubt about that.

But Bruce trusts Tony to take care of him. To lose his anger just enough to take off his defensive edge and fall into the other man’s arms; trusts that what he tells Bruce to do is for the best, because Tony would never betray him.

In sexual terms, Bruce is in no way submissive.

But submission isn’t just about sex.

And Tony is in awe every time Bruce looks to him and lets him lead.

 

  * **Who is more sensitive?**

Emotionally, Tony can’t handle much, and though he knows Tony will know he means no offense, Bruce is conscious of the words he uses and the jokes he makes.

Physically, Bruce has been starved of affectionate and sensual touches for years. Tony always makes sure that his hands linger, that his hugs last longer, and smiles when Bruce shivers at every touch.

 

  * **Who has the most patience?**

Both Bruce and Tony unanimously agree that the other person is the most patient. Bruce has yet to leave Tony, despite that Tony is self-obsessed and forgets his birthday. Tony hasn’t thrown Bruce out, despite that Bruce is a monster who can’t do anything right.

It works for them.




 

**Author's Note:**

> I have writer's block and can't format this right. Oh well.
> 
> I may actually write more of these for other pairings and the same pairings in genderswap. Anyone have anything they want to see, request? You can comment it on here or on my [tumblr](http://ashnapalm.tumblr.com/) or do neither of those things, because I'll probably do it anyway. ;)
> 
> ([Rise of the Robots](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PRvr-VsNLc) really is an SNES fighting-game no one really likes. However, _fighting robots_. It's Tony's favorite game.)


End file.
